SA80: top of the pile!!

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Old-Salt

I personally wasn't aware of this, so apologies if its been done, skimmed from wiki. I was quite surprised, considering the competition. I dont know where these trials were conducted or by whom (maybe someone else does!), interesting none the less. Your thoughts gentlemen....

In 1997 the SA80 was dropped from NATO's list of approved weapons, following which an upgrade programme was started. In 2000 Heckler & Koch, at that time owned by Royal Ordnance, were contracted to fix the problems. Two hundred thousand SA80s were remanufactured at a cost of Â£400 each producing the A2 variant of the weapon. By 2002 the upgraded versions were deployed in first line formations. The upgrade involved replacement of many internal parts and has vastly increased reliability, to the point of making it one of the most reliable of bullpup configuration weapons.

In March 2005, the L85A2 was put through its paces against the M16, M4, AK-101, FAMAS G2 and G36E modern rifles. [citation needed] It outperformed all of them in accuracy (even without the SUSATs), reload speed (physically changing magazine on the move and static) and usability in urban and close-quarters combat (because of its shorter overall length and the ability to affix a bayonet). A2 upgraded versions also have a higher muzzle velocity. The AK-101 won reliability on multiple terrain, weather and climatic scenarios. The ranks in the test were:

Old-Salt

The A2 upgrade has been a revelation. There's little problem in getting 5 from 5 at 400m, stoppages are rare (obviously there are issues with blanks, certainly as you come to the end of the magazine, but who cares about that?), and overall I think that they are good bits of kit. Too many people jump on the media's bandwagon, as they try to slag off any bit of army kit that's not absolutely amazing. I think the A2 and SUSAT are gleaming.

LE

Old-Salt

I'm no steely eyed dealer of death, but I felt that I couldn't fully trust the A1 to go bang everytime. The A2 has been spot on - never had a single stoppage and it's totally restored my faith in the rifle.

War Hero

Old-Salt

The cocking handle's still on the wrong side. Was the fabulous (if idoitic-looking) Steyr AUG included in the test?

My friends, we are kings amongst men. We are protectors of the truth, warriors of freedom and bringers of violence to the enemies of the Queen. We are killers of all creeds and colours. We are the British infantry.

A bit over the top I feel. I don't know of anyone who can legitimately question the capability of the A2.

I can see your point about ambidextrous firing, however if a test was included about firing around a left hand corner there wouldn't be an issue. It may be a drama with right hand corners! However I've not heard of patrols in Basra et al being re-routed to take account of this issue!

I could match my wage in civvy street but then I'd have to do some work!

Crow

SA80 stands for 'small arms for the 1980's' which was the name of the procurement programme not any rifle. Current issue are the L85A2 IW and the L86A2 DMR (no longer called a LSW due to alternative being issued for that use.)